Cookie banners in Belgium: rules and Consent Mode v2

The framework combines ePrivacy rules, implemented in Belgian telecommunications law, and the GDPR. In brief:

• Strictly necessary cookies, such as a basket, language choice or security, do not require consent.
• Other cookies and comparable technologies, including analytics and marketing, require prior, free, informed and active consent.
• Refusing must be as easy as accepting, and consent must be withdrawable.

If you use Analytics, a Meta pixel, YouTube embeds or remarketing, a correct banner is needed, however small the site. Merely announcing cookies, or setting them before a choice, is not sufficient.

The GBA imposed a 600.000 euro cookie fine on A.S. Watson, Kruidvat. Its banner offered acceptance without an equivalent refusal option, while colour and size steered visitors towards accepting.

For small businesses, its 2026-2028 strategic plan emphasises proactive thematic enforcement, meaning checks need not follow a complaint. In the Netherlands, the AP authority warned more than 200 organisations in 2025 about misleading banners. Across the Benelux, tolerance is decreasing.

The details matter. A suitable banner:

1. Sets no non-essential cookies before consent.
2. Shows acceptance and refusal as equivalent options at the same level, with comparable size and presentation rather than a hidden refusal link.
3. Explains each purpose, such as statistics, marketing and preferences, and allows purpose-level choice.
4. Links to a cookie notice describing cookies, retention and the parties involved.
5. Provides a permanent way to change the choice, for example in the footer.

Avoid visual tricks such as a bright acceptance button beside a faint refusal link. This kind of design contributed to the Belgian fine and undermines visitor confidence.

Consent Mode v2 connects the banner to Google tags. It communicates whether measurement or advertising storage is allowed, and Google adjusts tag behaviour. The setup is required for users of Ads or other Google advertising services in the EU.

Since 21 July 2025, Google strictly enforces this for EEA and UK traffic. Incorrect integrations lost conversion tracking, remarketing and demographic reporting without an error message. In the worst examples, GA4 measurement fell by 90 to 95 percent.

Configured correctly, Consent Mode can send anonymous signals from visitors refusing cookies, allowing modelling to estimate part of the missing outcomes, typically 10 to 30 percent extra conversions.

The early-2026 Didomi benchmark reports European consent rates between 75,1 and 89,3 percent, varying by sector and design. With fully equivalent refusal options, around 60 percent of visitors refuse. A realistic expectation for a business site is that a quarter to half of visitors may be absent from conventional statistics.

The figures can still help compare channels and trends, since measurement is incomplete across channels. Consent Mode, conversion modelling and potentially server-side tagging, associated with 15 to 30 percent recovered conversion signals, can narrow the gap. Compliant and useful measurement are compatible.

1. Select a sound consent management platform. Choose a Google-certified CMP supporting Consent Mode v2, with an appropriate integration for your website.
2. Configure the banner: equivalent acceptance and refusal, purpose choices and a cookie notice.
3. Connect it to tags, preferably through Tag Manager, checking analytics_storage, ad_storage, ad_user_data and ad_personalization.
4. Test both choices: accept and verify measurement; refuse and confirm that marketing cookies are not set.
5. Repeat quarterly and after website changes, because plugin or theme updates can disrupt integrations.

Suitable small-business CMP options can start at a few euros per month and often provide ready-made WordPress or Shopify integrations.

It is possible to meet the authority's expectations while retaining useful measurement, but details determine the result. Try the free marketing scan for an overview of your website's visible banner, tracking and wider marketing foundations.